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MOREHEAD, Ky. -- If history is to repeat itself, then the Morehead State baseball team is starting off on the right foot at this week's Ohio Valley Conference Tournament.

After capturing the team's fourth Ohio Valley Conference Tournament Championship last season, Morehead State embarks on its title defense in a very similar position. For the second straight season, the Eagles enter the week as the third overall seed. The tournament will also start against a familiar opponent, facing Eastern Kentucky to begin the week for the second straight year.

This year marks the first season the tournament is at Rent One Ballpark in Marion, Ill., the home field of the Southern Illinois Miners of the independent Frontier League.

The Eagles and Colonels will battle Wednesday in the first round, starting at approximately 1:30 p.m. ET following the game between fourth-seed Belmont and fifth-seed Murray State which starts at 10 a.m. The game will air live on WIVY-96.3 FM in Morehead and on MSUEagles.com and will air live on ESPN+ as well.

The Eagles enter the field with a 37-19 mark, pitted against EKU's 30-25 scorecard.

GAME NOTES

EAGLES AGAINST THE FIELD
Entering the 2019 Ohio Valley Conference Tournament, Morehead State owns a 12-9 record against the other seven teams in the tournament.
No. 1 Jacksonville State: 1-2 | No. 2 Austin Peay: 1-2 | No. 4 Belmont: 1-2 | No. 5 Murray State: 3-0 | No. 6 Eastern Kentucky: 3-0 | No. 7 Eastern Illinois: 3-0 | No. 8 UT Martin: 1-2

EAGLES IN THE OVC TOURNAMENT
Entering this season's OVC Tournament, Morehead State owns a 40-48 overall record in the OVC Tournament. Last season, the Eagles finished the week-long tournament 5-1, winning the first two games before taking the final three of the tournament, including two winner-take-all championship games against national top-20 team Tennessee Tech. Under head coach Mike McGuire, Morehead State has appeared in each tournament since 2014, owning a 12-7 record while winning two OVC Tournament titles. In making the tournament for the sixth season in a row, the Eagles have established a new program-long streak, besting the five straight appearances in the tournament from 1982-86.

WRAPPING THE REGULAR SEASON
Following a three-game sweep of Southeast Missouri to end the regular season, Morehead State made sure that it finished one of the best regular seasons in program history. On the year, the Eagles finished 37-19, establishing the best regular season win total in program history. The team's 37 wins fall just one win shy of the overall program wins record of 38 by the 2015 NCAA Louisville Regional Squad. Also, in reaching 30 wins this season, Morehead State has won 30 or more games for the fifth consecutive season and the sixth time in school history.

HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE
At the conclusion of the regular season, Morehead State finished with a staggering 26-2 record at home. With a .929 winning percentage at home, the Eagles rank third in the NCAA in the category, trailing just UC Santa Barbara (26-1, .963) and Ball State (23-1, .958). Overall, Morehead State is one of 71 teams of the 299 in the NCAA to win 20 games or more at home and one of just 15 to win 26 or more games at home this season.

MOVING TO THE TOP OF THE LIST
With starts in all three games of last weekend's series with Southeast Missouri, senior shortstop Reid Leonard has now appeared in more games in a Morehead State uniform than any other player in school history. Leonard has appeared in 230 career games, making 228 career starts. His 228 starts alone eclipse the previous school-best career games played total of 227 (Braxton Morris, 2015-18). In the 237 games played by Morehead State, only seven have not featured Leonard with five of those games coming during his freshman season.

CONTINUING THE RUN
Of the 230 career games in which Leonard has appeared, he has reached base safely in 210 of those games. Over the last two seasons, he has failed to reach just five times, having reached safely in each of the last 17 games for Morehead State. For perspective, only six players in program history have appeared in 210 or more games while just 12 have appeared in 200 or more games in an Eagle uniform. For his career, Leonard authored the longest reached-base streak in program history last season, reaching in 50 consecutive games while also having put together a 38-game streak following the end of his program-best streak.

STREAKING INTO THE TOURNAMENT
Heading into the 2019 OVC Tournament, Leonard holds the longest active hitting streak in the OVC, having hit safely in each of the last 17 games. The streak also marks the longest hitting streak in the league this season, besting the other two longest-active streaks by two games (Cole Frederick [Jacksonville State] and Kevin Strohschein [Tennessee Tech]). Leonard's 17-game hitting streak marks the longest streak of his career while also marking the third time he has hit safely in 10 or more games in his career.

DRIVING THEM IN
With three RBI over the course of the final week of the regular season, senior first baseman Trevor Snyder sits just four RBI from tying the all-time program record for career runs batted in. For his career, Snyder has driven home 182 career runs, trailing just Drew Lee's (2007-10) 186 career RBIs for the program lead. On the season, Snyder has driven in 33 runs, driving home a run in four of the last five games while totaling eight multi-RBI games this season.

RUN PRODUCER
With 60 runs batted in this season, senior centerf-ielder Connor Pauly ranks second in the OVC in total RBI, becoming one of the most consistent run producers for Morehead State this season. Overall, Pauly has driven in multiple runs in 16 total games, tying for the league lead in multi-RBI games. Three times this season, he has driven in four or more runs in a game, most recently last Thursday against Southeast Missouri where he drove home four as a part of his first career multi-homer game. He has also tallied a career-high five RBI on two occasions, against NJIT on March 2 and against Eastern Kentucky on March 16.

THREE IN THE TOP FIVE IN HITS
Entering the OVC Tournament, Morehead State has three players who rank top-five in the league in hits with Connor Pauly (2^nd), Jake Hammon (4^th), and Reid Leonard (5^th) in the rankings for Morehead State. The three Eagles have recorded 83, 77, and 76 hits, respectively. Of the five players who lead the league in hits, Morehead State's trio marks the only three of the five players to reach the OVC Tournament.

SWIPING BAGS
With a stolen base in the Eagles' second game versus Southeast Missouri on Friday, junior Ryan Layne became the third member of the team to reach double-digit steals this season. Layne (10 for 10) joins senior outfielders Jake Hammon (14 for 15) and Connor Pauly (11 for 14) in the double-digit steals group, giving the Eagles three players with 10 or more steals in a season since 2012. With three players reaching double-digit steals this season, five total players have reached double-digit steals under head coach Mike McGuire as the Eagles have stolen a McGuire-era high 52 bags this season.

WHAT A PITCHING STAFF
At the conclusion of the regular season, Morehead State's pitching staff ranks amongst the top staffs in the OVC. The Eagles lead the league in strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.39), WHIP (1.39), and walks allowed for nine innings (3.79) while ranking second in the conference in earned run average (4.35), hits per nine innings (8.71), shutouts (four), and total strikeouts (492). The team also ranks third in the OVC in strikeouts per nine innings (9.1).

RAKING THEM UP
With 95 strikeouts on the season, redshirt junior lefthander Dalton Stambaugh is just five strikeouts away from becoming the sixth player in school history to reach 100 strikeouts in a season. Overall, 100 strikeouts in a season have been reached seven times in a single season by five pitchers, most recently during the 2017 season. Stambaugh is looking to join former Eagles Matt Anderson, Drew Hall, Sean Hogan, Aaron Leasher, and Jon Rauch—all Major League draft picks—with a 100 strikeout season.

RISING IN THE RANKINGS
As he nears 100 strikeouts for the season, Stambaugh continues to climb up the career leaderboards in a number of pitching categories. Thus far, he ranks third in career starts (44) and shutouts (two), fifth in career strikeouts (229), and sixth in career wins (17). Entering the OVC Tournament, Stambaugh needs to pitch just two-thirds of an inning to reach the top-10 in career innings pitched.

A FAMILY AFFAIR
Through 14 appearances and 11 starts this season, redshirt junior righthander Jason Goe ranks amongst the top-35 in the NCAA in walks allowed per nine innings and strikeout-to-walk ratio, ranking 33^rd and 35^th, respectively. On the season, he has racked up 54 strikeouts to just 10 walks in 59.1 innings. His 1.52 walks allowed per nine innings stands as the fifth-lowest single-season total in school history while his 5.40 strikeout-to-walk ratio as the second-best in a single-season in school history. In both categories, Goe's older brother Aaron owns the best single-season marks, allowing just 1.09 walks per nine innings and owning a 7.40 strikeout-to-walk ratio during the 2015 season.